Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

Songs don’t get much dirtier than the Stooges‘ “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Not dirty lyrically – no curse words here – but dirty sonically. The slimy three-chord riff crawls through the mud, ignoring any pretense of real melody. The low-down crunch of Ron Asheton’s guitar fits the self-loathing lyrics perfectly. A five year old could play the riff, but recreating the feeling would be a challenge indeed.

John Velghe doesn’t try. Instead, he strips away any hint of electricity, blending acoustic picking and chugging cello for a romantic duet. “I’d been performing this song live for almost a decade as the raucous rock anthem that it was originally,” he tells us. “Then one day I played it on my acoustic and this cover was born. Some will be offended, some will be pissed, but honestly, I think it’s one of the most gorgeous songs in music history no matter how it’s performed.”

4 Responses to “Song of the Day: John Velghe, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (The Stooges cover)”

The beginning reminds me of the calmer start to Uncle Tupelo’s awesome cover of this song. Of course, that one picks up the pace and rocks out later on, while this one doesn’t, but I just thought it was worth mentioning.

…I dont understand. You would strip the energy and emotion of the original in favor for… some fingerpicking and harmonies? I hope this goes on a retrospective OC soundtrack with the rest of this “indie” garbage.

A good, albeit different, take on the song. The duet gives the song’s meaning a new vibe. What’s wrong with fingerpicking and harmonies? They’re kind of a staple of American music – nothing “idnie” about it. No reason be an ass and slag on someone’s take on a song or an entire genre of music just because you don’t understand it.